If you have a great idea for a smartphone or smartwatch app, but you don’t know how to bring it to life, then this course may be just what you need. The Android Marshmallow Mobile Developer Course on offer from Talk Android Deals will help you learn how to code, developing impressive new apps for both smartphones and wearables from scratch along the way. Best of all, the course is now discounted to just $24.99, a whopping 87% saving!

One of the great things about flashing a custom Rom on your Android device is being able to backup and restore your apps via the custom recovery or by using an app such as Titanium Backup, it’s especially helpful if you’ve had to factory reset your device or if you’ve swapped over to a new device. Now it seems like un-rooted users will also be able to automatically backup and restore their apps thanks to a feature called ‘Auto Backup for Apps’ that is present in the latest Android M Preview.

Whatever it started as, Google’s virtual reality viewer originally released as a “device” made out of a cardboard box has proven so successful that Google is investing even more in the platform. According to Google, they count more than half a million Cardboard viewers in use and with numbers like that, they have released a new round of updates for users, developers and makers of the device.

As previously reported, Google has followed up their official release of Android 5.0 Lollipop earlier this week with the announcement that the full Android 5.0 SDK is now ready for developers to download. Along with the new SDK, the team is also making available updated developer images for the Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2013), ADT-1, and the Android emulator. On their Android Developers Blog, Google indicates the first consumer devices to ship with Android 5.0 Lollipop will be the Nexus 6, Nexus 9 and Nexus Player starting on November 3rd with the Nexus 9. They indicate other Nexus devices, including the Nexus 4, 5, 7 (both the 2012 and 2013 versions), 10, and Google Play Edition devices, will receive an OTA update for Android 5.0 Lollipop “in the same timeframe.”

Google has just officially announced the latest major update of its mobile operating system as Android 5.0 Lollipop. Unfortunately, the general public will have to wait a little while longer before they can get their hands on this new release, but developers will be able to access the final SDK this Friday, October 17.

If you’re one of the many who jumped ship from their stable Android version to try out the Android L Developer Preview, you definitely noticed it’s not exactly the most polished thing in the world (not even close, actually).

No reason to be mad at Google, though — it’s just a developer preview, and we’re lucky to have something before launch.

As most Android enthusiasts tend to do, we looked ahead, and hoped for Google to upload an updated factory image of the L Developers Preview. But according to Googler Rich Hyndman, it ain’t happening.

At Sundar Pichai’s keynote at the SXSW (South by Southwest) conference, he mentioned that Chromecast would be hitting “many more countries” in the coming weeks.

These countries include the UK and Australia, which had been rumored since last month. Because the device’s SDK was released in February, you can expect the capabilities of the dongle to expand in the next few months as well.

He didn’t talk about sales figures, but mentioned that the numbers are in the millions, and is continuing to grow rapidly.

If you’ve been thinking about grabbing a Chromecast in the past few days, now may be the time to do it. The device is currently available on Amazon for $30. There doesn’t appear to be any side-deals on this one, like there have been in the past, which include Google Play Credit, rebates, etc.

With Chromecast’s SDK now available to the public, the device is as valuable as it’ll ever be, until of course the next model comes out. If you’re down to dongle, head on over to Amazon and grab one.

Android surprised us all this morning as it announced that the next version of Android will be called “KitKat 4.4,” and not Key Lime Pie 5.0, as was widely rumored (and expected) for months.

Nestle and Hershey will certainly be doing their part in supporting the newest version of Android’s OS, as they have already announced a new Android-branded wrapper which will be shipped with 50 million Kit-Kat bars worldwide, and will feature a promotional giveaway from Google for free Nexus 7s and Play Store credit.

Now, Nestle has released a video which jokingly advertises Kit-Kat bars as a revolutionary new piece of food technology with a fully “immersive and multi-sensory experience.”

We still don’t have any information on what specific features the new version of Android’s OS will include, but it will certainly be interesting to see what changes they bring. Nonetheless, check out the video after the break— enjoy!

The latest version of Google Play services has just finished rolling out and it has some pretty nice enhancements that developers will definitely enjoy hearing. Not only does 3.2 offer better performance and power savings, but it also provides improved maps and location-based services through the Fused Location Provider and the ability to inject mock locations for testing.

Apps using Google+ sign-in can now take advantage of multiple new features including simplified sharing control, a compass mode in the Photo Sphere viewer, and InstantBuy implementation which improves purchasing efficiency and packs a cleaner UI.

Lately Sony has been very “developer friendly” with their Android devices such as the Xperia Z, and that trend won’t stop as Sony recently fully opened up their SmartWatch platform to all developers. Per Sony:

We are now taking the next step to open up SmartWatch. Previously, you’ve been able to create apps for SmartWatch with the Sony Add-on SDK, but now we hope to see even more innovation as we’re making it possible for advanced developers to create and flash alternative firmware, by sharing technical details and instructions.

Doing so does come with some limitations as you will no longer be able to use SmartConnect or any compatible SmartWatch app that’s available in the Google Play Store. So keep that in mind. For more info, hit the source link!